The first real signs of fall

September 4, 2015 - Friday

59 degrees/clear/calm

Pentoga Road

Anyone else notice how it's staying dark so much later in the early morning hours? I was up at five this morning and had to turn on lights as I made my way downstairs and into the kitchen. 

When living in Alaska, I was amazed at the swing in daylight hours during certain times of the year. Right now, north of the arctic circle, each day is growing shorter by as much as seven or eight minutes.

The pain in my lower abdomen and back finally got bad enough to warrant a call to the doctor's office Thursday morning. I was lucky and found she had an opening late in the afternoon.

What to do meanwhile? Walking the three miles Thursday morning went okay, but it felt as though I was walking through knee-deep water. My get-up-and-go had got-up-and-went.

Once home, I put a few things over the shop, mostly traps and trapping paraphernalia. Now that I will have a heated shop in which to skin and flesh critters, I'm already mentally gearing up for this coming season. 

The next couple of hours were spent sitting and not doing much of anything. I fed the pumpkin, messed around in the garden, plucked a weed here, picked a cucumber and tomato there. I just didn't feel like doing anything.

I did make a quick trip into town and dropped off some cucumbers with Yooper Brother Mark and his assistant, Ann. I hoped to talk with Dave the mechanic, but he was busy welding elsewhere in the plant. 

Once home, I hopped on the mower and groomed the trails and meadows. The grass is growing slower and the mowing season is just about over. 

Hmm, does it mean it's too wet to mow when water flies out the discharge chute? I didn't see a few of the puddles from Wednesday's big rain.

I'll probably mow the meadows one last time, just before real cold weather sets in, so they look nice next spring after the snow melts. 

I had a good doctor's appointment and got a prescription for the infection in my lower abdomen caused by diverticulitis. 

Strange. After two doses of antibiotics, I am already feeling 100% better. I didn't realize how bad I felt until I awakened this morning feeling so good. I didn't even have my usual backache. Evidently, infection has gradually spread through all my lower extremities. I know I've been running a low grade fever for sometime and my energy level has been low. At any rate, I'm on the mend and am no longer begging Sargie to put me out of my misery.

I rode back with Sargie last night from Iron Mountain and will go back with her this morning. I've got a list of electrical goodies that need purchasing so I can begin to wire the shop. Yooper Brother Mark is coming out later this afternoon to lend a hand. It will be good to get that finished so I can start insulating the walls and ceiling and get this shop project finished. 

It's time to upload some pictures, see what I did yesterday, then head to the garden and feed the pumpkin. 

It appears the tomatoes are going to come on strong next week. Originally, I intended to grow only six plants, not the thirty that have bushels of tomatoes hanging from them. 

Time to greet the day. After all, a man's work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...